If there is one thing that comes close to my love of family and nature, it is maintaining a strong and healthy body. For most of my life I have been blessed with excellent health, and I have always been very grateful for the awesome genes I have inherited. Then, a while back I experienced some very stressful life changes and tragedies, and this served to create a health crisis from the inside out. I began to get sick, catching every virus that seemed to float or creep my way, and I actually gained too much weight, which is very unusual for me.

I really needed to take some serious action and get my body back on track. Whereas before these health issues began to arise and I did not have to devote so much active thought to my weight or health, lately I have had to actually pay even closer attention to what I eat, and raise my metabolism to a desirable stage to burn off the excess fat. This is a challenge, but I do know how to work out safely, and my martial arts background gives me the confidence to reach my goals. I just have to be consistant and work a little harder than when I was younger, yet I know I will be back in tip top shape in no time at all.

I am actively practicing Qigong, an ancient Chinese form of health and healing designed to bring inner health, which I will elaborate upon as I progress. Along with this I am always curious to find new ways to shape and sculpt my outer self to where I wish to be. I will not be satisfied until I attain my goals, and I do love a good challenge.

Even though I am quite skilled in  physical training, I would like to try something new and exciting. I believe I may have found what I am looking for in XFLOWSION, which claims to be an exercise program that efficiently and effectively gives us all three workouts in one convenient workout, combining the proven best moves from martial arts, power yoga, and dance, providing jaw-dropping results in 1/3 the time.

XFLOWSION really sounds fun, and I will be sure to offer up a better opinion as I take myself to the next level. From what I can see celebrity trainer Eric Paskel, who has shaped up some of the hottest bodies in Hollywood, combines his leading-edge fitness and psychology background to bring fresh, constantly shifting moves which are specifically designed to promote continuous fat burning and muscle toning. Well, I can honestly say this meets the criteria I am looking for in a workout, and I love dance, martial arts, and yoga. Sounds perfect to me!

Note: As always, I suggest everyone uses their own good judgement when choosing a new form of excercise, and chech with your health care provider before beginning a new program.

Join Michael Farris, founder and president of ParentalRights.org, in a free lecture series Sept. 26-27 at Trinity Law School in Santa Ana.

Dr. Farris will be addressing the legal trends which threaten parental rights, along with answers to the following questions:

~ Are parental rights procedural or substantive?

~Do we need a Parental Rights Amendment?

~ What threats are posed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child?

~ Is homeschooling a right or an evasive privilege?

Friday’s lectures will be from 7 to 9 p.m.; Saturday’s lectures will be from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. Students as well as the general public are welcome. There is no fee.

Click here to RSVP online >>

If you are going to be in the area, please feel free to join this important event.

For some reason people just love to dress up and make believe they are someone or something else. Although the origins of All Hallows Eve have a deep spiritual connection which continues strongly to this day, people just love to dress up in fantastic and imaginative costumes, either home made, or created by masters. This is all in the spirit of having fun, and possibly attempting to blend in with those who have crossed to the other side. Because we all know this is when the veil between the realms of the living and the deceased lifts, to allow our loved ones to visit the the earthly realm.

So, as the hallowed time approaches we fire up our imaginations to create fantastic costumes to suit our tastes. If we cannot come up with great home made ideas, as I love to do, then we must seek the best halloween costume stores with unique, totally cool, and realistic outfits. Personally, I prefer to be a little different, and one of my favourite memories was the year my little S dressed up as a hobo and hit the streets in search of treats and goodies. People must have felt quite sorry for the little urchin, as she collected more candy and such than any other year, and folks commented upon her sad demeanor. I was a wicked witch with a cackling laugh, so we most certainly left an impression of darkness and despair along our trail. It was such a grand adventure, and one we shall always remember fondly. Of course there was the year my dear S was a Gypsy… that was great fun, and a story for another day!

Perhaps others have not the time or resources to create their own fantastic costume, and would like to spice up their own Halloween adventure with a custume created by true Masters of Masquerade. Any time is a great time to dress up and enact our most desired fantasies, especially this time of year, as parties and masquerades rule the festive season. Truly, can we really know if this is the real world or the virtual one?

Psssst… This is a copy of a post I created over at my other blog This Virtual World, and I just wanted to share!

Here is a great opportunity to share your own experiences of the wild places you love. Perhaps you love to hike, camp, kayak, hunt, fish, explore or capture nature through photos or art. Whatever pleasure nature brings you can be a great story to share with the world.

The “Your Lands, Your Wildlife, Your Story” contest from Defenders of Wildlife is an opportunity for fans of America’s public lands to share their stories. Six great prizes are up for grabs, including $1,000 in gift cards to REI for the best overall story.

Defenders will accept submissions through Nov. 30, 2008 at www.YourLandsYourWildlife.org or by direct mail. Submissions will be accepted in five categories: hunting, fishing, birding, wildlife watching and photography, and backcountry adventure. The contest winners will be announced in January, 2009.

Choose from one of the following categories, and in 500 words or less, tell about…

Birding: The time you got to check that rare bird off your life-list, or the one that you’re still searching for.

Fishing: What made your last fishing trip to our public lands so great: the huge fish you reeled in, the one that got away, or the other wildlife that you saw while you fished?

Hunting: A hunt on public lands that brought you within a few yards of your quarry or just closer to your hunting buddies and nature.

Outdoor Adventure: The wildlife you saw on the last peak you bagged, camping in the backcountry, or along a simple walk through the woods.

Photography/Wildlife Watching: The extraordinary wildlife you captured in a nature photograph or an interesting encounter you had while in a National Forest or on BLM lands.

I’ll just bet there are some really great stories just waiting to be told about people’s adventures in the wilderness. These lands are so very important for Life and the future, and we owe it to our children to leave them a legacy where there are plenty of wild places to visit, explore and enjoy throughout time.

These lands are bursting with wildlife. Unchecked, unsustainable development is threatening U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands. Nearly 3,000 wildlife species and 10,000 plant species inhabit these 449 million acres, and they depend on these federal agencies to keep these lands healthy.

We need to present a united stand against radical exploitations upon nature. There are clean alternatives to our energy and fuel needs, and these are the areas that need to be explored and addressed in a responsible manner. Science brings us technologies which can help shape the future in a clean, positive way. Let’s hear your stories today… don’t miss the November 30th deadline to get those stories told!

Visit Your Lands, Your Wildlife, Your Story today to learn more.

Defenders of Wildlife is actively getting the word out to voters about Governor Sarah Palin’s barbaric record on killing America’s wildlife, especially her active promotion of the brutal aerial hunting of wolves and bears. We need to educate voters on the urgency of this matter.

As governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin has proposed paying a $150 bounty for the foreleg of each dead wolf. The aerial hunting program she champions has already killed nearly 800 wolves. She’s opposed efforts to save America’s polar bears from extinction. She’s fought against efforts to save some of the world’smost endangered beluga whales.

At nearly every opportunity, Governor Palin has sided with Big Oil, mining companies, wealthy trophy hunters and other entrenched special interests in support of policies that would greatly harm the wild animals we treasure.

Here is the latest news from Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund since they released their hard-hitting video on Palins support for the wolf slaughter last week…

~ Nearly 450,000 potential voters have read our email!
~ More than 68,000 potential voters have viewed the video on YouTube, with many more spread the word by re-posting the video on their websites and blogs and forwarding it to friends.
~ CNN and other news outlets have picked up the story, running clips from Defenders of Wildlife Action fund and our sister organization Defenders of Wildlife.

Here is the brutal video as seen on YouTube. Please be aware this video is quite disturbing and may not be suitable for all audiences, so use your own good judgement…

To reach hundreds of thousands of swing voters who will help decide this election, we’ve created a powerful new television spot detailing Governor Palin’s efforts to kill wolves and bears. But we can only run it with your financial help today.

Click here to watch Defenders new television ad on Governor Palin’s support for aerial hunting and help us run it on television stations starting in Ohio, one of the handful of swing states that will decide the election.

Running a television ad during an election year is expensive. We need to raise $100,000 by September 17th in order to run this ad and support the work to provide a voice for endangered wildlife. Let’s make a stand and get the truth out about Sarah Palin and her unjust views of the natural world. Do we really want to allow this woman a high place in our goverment where the damage created can be much worse? Please help spread the word!!

Here we go again with humans idea of progress which does not fit in with the balance of nature. When will people learn that we can coexist with the natural world without creating so much chaos and destruction?

Alaska Senators Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski have a plan to pave a destructive road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge… a paradise where wildflowers blossom on fragile tundra, thousands of birds burst from lagoons of eelgrass and brown bears feast on salmon returning to spawn.

We can’t let that happen.

As members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, our Senators can help defeat this costly and unnecessary bill that would blaze a destructive path through one of our national treasures.

With lagoons, tundra and stunning mountain peaks, the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is internationally recognized as an important wetland, protected as a wildlife refuge and designated as a wilderness area.

Tens of thousands of waterfowl, seabirds and shorebirds rely on the Izembek — one of Alaska’s most ecologically unique refuges — for nesting and feeding. In fact, each fall the refuge shelters nearly the entire population of the Pacific black brant and the emperor goose. This incredible habitat is also home to brown bears, wolverines, steller’s eiders, caribou and other wildlife. The proposed road would slice through the ecological heart of this special place, devastating fragile habitat and the wildlife that lives there… and costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. It would also set a terrible precedent, threatening other refuges and wilderness areas. 

Take action now — tell your Senators to oppose a destructive road though an Alaskan paradise.

With your help, we can defeat this costly and destructive plan… and preserve one of Alaska’s most spectacular paradises. We must use our voices and act to protect those who cannot save themselves before all of our wild places are destroyed. It would be a damn shame to leave our future generations a world devoid of natural wildlife where green places are few and far between.

Today I would like to share those moments which take my breath away, as posted at my sweet new blog Lavender ‘N Chocolate. To me, Life on this earth is a total virtual experience, as I believe our Spirits truly dwell in another existence and this is just a small part of our education and what we take with us is entirely up to us…

Some days we are especially reminded of what is most important to us in this earthly Life. Seeing the headlines reporting on the deadly storms bombarding the coastlines and islands in their paths makes me want to hold my loved ones close and thank the goddess for all our blessings. Keeping our family and friends in our hearts, thoughts and deeds are the most important aspects of living. We are rich in many ways, which have nothing to do with money, clothes and fancy cars. My little S presents the greatest of challenges in parenthood, yet she brings such Joy to my heart. She can try my patience to the very limits (and I am a VERY patient person most days), yet she has a special gift of Wisdom in which mere glimpses are emerging.

She gifted me a tiny plaque for my birthday which now has a place of honor on my desk to remind me of why my little ones are so very important to me. It says…

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away”

This is true in so many ways! It amazes me to watch my family grow, and develop into fine human beings. As the matriarch of this family, I stand in a place of honor. From babyhood to adulthood, I have experienced many ups and downs, yet the good far surpasses the bad. I have raised my children without a partner, yet I feel so accomplished when I see the goodness and values I am instilling within my children and their children as well. There is no greater reward than knowing these beings will carry on all that is good inside me to future generations.

As Family and Nature represent that which is dearest to me, I chose the picture above to show clearly that which takes my breath away. To watch my little one growing into a beautiful young Lady, inside and out, takes my breath away. When my little S looks at me with her big brown eyes and says ‘I Love You Mama’, her words enter my heart and take my breath away. What more can a Lady ask for?